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frankfortstation.com Life & Arts<br />

the frankfort station | February 16, 2017 | 25<br />

Rossi known for kindness, charisma and caring spirit<br />

Meredith Dobes<br />

Freelance Reporter<br />

It is often those behind the<br />

scenes who do not receive the recognition<br />

or the awards for the vital<br />

work they contribute.<br />

Terri Rossi, a longtime athletic<br />

secretary in Lincoln-Way Community<br />

High School District 210<br />

and former First Lady of Frankfort,<br />

could be categorized as someone<br />

whose work was primarily done<br />

behind the scenes, but her caring,<br />

charismatic personality radiated<br />

out for the Lincoln-Way community<br />

to see.<br />

Today, her personality is what<br />

many remember her for.<br />

Rossi, 63, of Frankfort, died<br />

Feb. 4 at the Joliet Area Community<br />

Hospice House in Joliet. She<br />

leaves behind a legacy in both the<br />

high school district and the Frankfort<br />

communities.<br />

“We were so fortunate to have<br />

had Terri Rossi in our lives and<br />

in the Lincoln-Way East football<br />

family for over 15 years,” said Rob<br />

Zvonar, East football head coach.<br />

“Terri leaves a legacy of selflessness<br />

and kindness that will never<br />

be forgotten. She constantly put the<br />

needs of others before herself and<br />

did everything she could to help the<br />

coaches, student-athletes, parents,<br />

faculty and administration have a<br />

better experience at Lincoln-Way.”<br />

Rossi started her career at the<br />

school district as a financial secretary<br />

at East, transferred to the role<br />

of athletic secretary at Lincoln-<br />

Way Central and finished as the<br />

athletic secretary at East. She retired<br />

in 2015 and was an honorary<br />

captain of the East football team.<br />

Her colleagues remember her as<br />

a great friend who would always<br />

put others first and go out of her<br />

way to help.<br />

“She took care of everybody,”<br />

said Brian Papa, former East girls<br />

soccer head coach. “There was not<br />

a time I met her she wasn’t willing<br />

to help. If I didn’t know something,<br />

and she didn’t know it, she’d find<br />

it out for me. … She was an awesome<br />

person — a good, good person.”<br />

Terri Rossi, who was a honorary captain of the Lincoln-Way East football team after she retired from the district in 2015, flips the coin for one of the<br />

Griffins’ football games. Photo Submitted<br />

Rossi also had an impact on<br />

students’ lives at Lincoln-Way.<br />

She worked to organize and start<br />

the Lincoln-Way East bookstore,<br />

Frankfort Mayor Jim Holland said.<br />

“There’s hardly a student-athlete<br />

at East who didn’t know Terri Rossi<br />

over the last probably 10 years<br />

or so,” Holland said. “She was<br />

outgoing, friendly and well-liked.<br />

... The memory of her that I will<br />

take away is the positive impact<br />

she had on the students and staff at<br />

Lincoln-Way East High School.”<br />

Holland said he remembered<br />

first meeting Rossi when she was<br />

involved in planning a Save the<br />

Water Tower Ball in the 1990s in<br />

Frankfort — an effort to maintain<br />

the historic water tower near the<br />

Frankfort Chamber of Commerce<br />

building.<br />

Rossi’s husband, Ray Rossi, was<br />

the mayor of Frankfort from 1993-<br />

2005.<br />

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard<br />

anybody say anything negative<br />

about Terri, and that speaks volumes<br />

about who she was,” Papa<br />

said.<br />

In addition to helping out when<br />

needed at East and demonstrating<br />

kindness to students and staff<br />

alike, Rossi kept things organized<br />

and paid attention to all of the little<br />

details that made things easier for<br />

everyone else, he added.<br />

Some of Papa’s favorite memories<br />

of Rossi are moments he<br />

would come to her with concerns<br />

or frustrations, and she would listen<br />

and tell him that everything<br />

would work out.<br />

“People just remember her,” he<br />

“Terri leaves a legacy of selflessness and<br />

kindness that will never be forgotten.”<br />

Rob Zvonar — Lincoln-Way East High School Football coach,<br />

on his memory of Terri Rossi<br />

said. “I know how I’ll remember<br />

her and the fond memories I have<br />

of how she helped me get through<br />

instances. It’s usually the people<br />

behind the scenes who don’t get<br />

the accolades, and she’s one of<br />

those people behind the scenes.”<br />

Zvonar added that Rossi made<br />

the athletic office at East a better<br />

place and made everyone who entered<br />

feel welcomed.<br />

“Terri had a genuine love, care<br />

and concern for those whom she<br />

was around,” he said.<br />

Rossi is survived by husband<br />

Raymond “Ray” Rossi; children<br />

Amanda (Michael) Marshall, Brandon<br />

(Kristin) Rossi, Carmen Rossi<br />

and Drake Rossi; siblings Sharon<br />

(Dave) Pavletich, Floyd (Patti)<br />

Wilson and Scott (Jane) Wilson;<br />

and grandchildren Brock Marshall,<br />

Chase Marshall, Gianna Marshall,<br />

Gage Marshall, Miabella Marshall,<br />

Madeline Rossi and Tyler Rossi.

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